Marketing and advertisement activities are transforming as new digital media streams emerge. It is believed that the first major digital transition took place when broadcast media such as television and cinema, also called first screen, to the PC Internet, referred to as the second screen, entered the media industry. The last couple of years saw an expanding transition into the third screen, which is the mobile handset, commonly known as cellphones in South Africa. The rapid explosion of mobile phones and other mobile devices has created a new marketing channel. The use of Short Messaging Service, Multimedia Message Service, Graphic WAP Banners, and Video Clips to communicate with customers through their mobile devices / cellphones has gained popularity, making the mobile phone the ultimate medium for one–to–one or one–to–many marketing. And the more mobile handsets penetrate the mass market, the greater are the opportunities for advertising experiences. This exploratory study investigates the impact / effectiveness of mobile advertising to consumers in the short–term insurance industry. The study briefly focuses on whether marketers are reaping the benefits of using this medium to communicate and market their products and services to the identified target market. The findings indicate that mobile advertising has an impact on consumers in the short–term insurance industry. It was also envisaged that where mobile advertising seems to have no effect, the root of the problem lies in the mass marketing approach. Customers are looking for full customisation of mobile marketing messages, based on their individual requirements, tastes, preferences, location, time, and it should also add value to consumers. For maximum impact, it is also recommended that marketers should build measurements, targeting and optimisation into their campaign processes. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Marketing and advertisement activities are transforming as new digital media streams emerge. It is believed that the first major digital transition took place when broadcast media such as television and cinema, also called first screen, to the PC Internet, referred to as the second screen, entered the media industry. The last couple of years saw an expanding transition into the third screen, which is the mobile handset, commonly known as cellphones in South Africa. The rapid explosion of mobile phones and other mobile devices has created a new marketing channel. The use of Short Messaging Service, Multimedia Message Service, Graphic WAP Banners, and Video Clips to communicate with customers through their mobile devices / cellphones has gained popularity, making the mobile phone the ultimate medium for one–to–one or one–to–many marketing. And the more mobile handsets penetrate the mass market, the greater are the opportunities for advertising experiences. This exploratory study investigates the impact / effectiveness of mobile advertising to consumers in the short–term insurance industry. The study briefly focuses on whether marketers are reaping the benefits of using this medium to communicate and market their products and services to the identified target market. The findings indicate that mobile advertising has an impact on consumers in the short–term insurance industry. It was also envisaged that where mobile advertising seems to have no effect, the root of the problem lies in the mass marketing approach. Customers are looking for full customisation of mobile marketing messages, based on their individual requirements, tastes, preferences, location, time, and it should also add value to consumers. For maximum impact, it is also recommended that marketers should build measurements, targeting and optimisation into their campaign processes. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Masters of Science / Communication tools such as text-based instant messaging, voice and video relay services, real-time video chat and mobile SMS and MMS have successfully been used among Deaf people. Several years of field research with a local Deaf community revealed that disadvantaged South African Deaf people preferred to communicate with both Deaf and hearing peers in South African Sign Language as opposed to text.Synchronous video chat and video relay services provided such opportunities. Both types of services are commonly available in developed regions, but not in developing countries like South Africa. This thesis reports on a workaround approach to design and develop an asynchronous video communication tool that adapted synchronous video codecs to store-and-forward video delivery. This novel asynchronous video tool provided high quality South African Sign Language video chat at the expense of some additional latency. Synchronous video codec adaptation consisted of comparing codecs,and choosing one to optimise in order to minimise latency and preserve video quality.Traditional quality of service metrics only addressed real-time video quality and related services. There was no such standard for asynchronous video communication. Therefore, we also enhanced traditional objective video quality metrics with subjective assessment metrics conducted with the local Deaf community.

In recent years, innovation and the subsequent technological advancements have gained significance in shaping consumer behavior to a disruptive extent. Especially with the advancements in mobile technology, consumer behaviors shifted towards an elevated expectation of mobility and increased interactivity. Marketers who seek a better degree of access to the consumer market and provide customer satisfaction needed to adopt new tools and methods in communication, which would align with their target groups more effectively. Mobile marketing emerged as an innovative technique that is based on and driven by this change in consumer behavior; therefore it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of its approach and implementation. In this light, this research paper employs a quantitative approach based on the results' analysis of an online survey conducted by the Author of the thesis, aimed at testing whether there is a strong correlation between mobile marketing efforts and customer satisfaction. Consequently, one can conclude that the same mobile devices that serve as convenience for consumers, serve as an effective channel of communication for marketers, whereas with an integrated approach where other components of the marketing mix support mobile content, the likeliness of attaining consumer satisfaction is higher.

Mobile phone usage has grown rapidly and is widely used as an advertising channel. Both short message service (SMS) and multimedia messaging service (MMS) are typically used for mobile advertising. The goals of this study are to examine the determinants of attitudes toward mobile advertising in an apparel context and subsequent impact on behavior intention and to investigate the effects of modality and culture on attitudes toward apparel mobile advertising. Results indicate that entertainment, informativeness, irritation, and credibility are determinants of attitudes toward apparel mobile advertising, and attitudes can explain behavioral intention at least in part. Perceived entertainment is different between SMS and MMS apparel mobile advertising, and perceived entertainment, informativeness, irritation, and credibility are different between U.S. and Korea participants.

Ce travail de thèse poursuit une perspective double dans l'usage conjoint des méthodes de Monte Carlo séquentielles (MMS) et de l'algorithme Espérance-Maximisation (EM) dans le cadre des modèles de Markov cachés présentant une structure de dépendance markovienne d'ordre supérieur à 1 au niveau de la composante inobservée. Tout d'abord, nous commençons par un exposé succinct de l'assise théorique des deux concepts statistiques à Travers les chapitres 1 et 2 qui leurs sont consacrés. Dans un second temps, nous nous intéressons à la mise en pratique simultanée des deux concepts au chapitre 3 et ce dans le cadre usuel ou la structure de dépendance est d'ordre 1, l'apport des méthodes MMS dans ce travail réside dans leur capacité à approximer efficacement des fonctionnelles conditionnelles bornées, notamment des quantités de filtrage et de lissage dans un cadre non linéaire et non gaussien. Quant à l'algorithme EM, il est motivé par la présence à la fois de variables observables, et inobservables (ou partiellement observées) dans les modèles de Markov Cachés et singulièrement les modèles de volatilité stochastique étudié. Après avoir présenté aussi bien l'algorithme EM que les méthodes MCS ainsi que quelques une de leurs propriétés dans les chapitres 1 et 2 respectivement, nous illustrons ces deux outils statistiques au travers de la calibration d'un modèle de volatilité stochastique. Cette application est effectuée pour des taux change ainsi que pour quelques indices boursiers au chapitre 3. Nous concluons ce chapitre sur un léger écart du modèle de volatilité stochastique canonique utilisé ainsi que des simulations de Monte Carlo portant sur le modèle résultant. Enfin, nous nous efforçons dans les chapitres 4 et 5 à fournir les assises théoriques et pratiques de l'extension des méthodes Monte Carlo séquentielles notamment le filtrage et le lissage particulaire lorsque la structure markovienne est plus prononcée. En guise d’illustration, nous donnons l'exemple d'un modèle de volatilité stochastique dégénéré dont une approximation présente une telle propriété de dépendance. / This thesis pursues a double perspective in the joint use of sequential Monte Carlo methods (SMC) and the Expectation-Maximization algorithm (EM) under hidden Mar­kov models having a Markov dependence structure of order grater than one in the unobserved component signal. Firstly, we begin with a brief description of the theo­retical basis of both statistical concepts through Chapters 1 and 2 that are devoted. In a second hand, we focus on the simultaneous implementation of both concepts in Chapter 3 in the usual setting where the dependence structure is of order 1. The contribution of SMC methods in this work lies in their ability to effectively approximate any bounded conditional functional in particular, those of filtering and smoothing quantities in a non-linear and non-Gaussian settings. The EM algorithm is itself motivated by the presence of both observable and unobservable ( or partially observed) variables in Hidden Markov Models and particularly the stochastic volatility models in study. Having presented the EM algorithm as well as the SMC methods and some of their properties in Chapters 1 and 2 respectively, we illustrate these two statistical tools through the calibration of a stochastic volatility model. This application is clone for exchange rates and for some stock indexes in Chapter 3. We conclude this chapter on a slight departure from canonical stochastic volatility model as well Monte Carlo simulations on the resulting model. Finally, we strive in Chapters 4 and 5 to provide the theoretical and practical foundation of sequential Monte Carlo methods extension including particle filtering and smoothing when the Markov structure is more pronounced. As an illustration, we give the example of a degenerate stochastic volatility model whose approximation has such a dependence property.

Karotenoidy, ergosterol a mastné kyseliny jsou velmi žádané látky využívané v krmivářském, potravinářském a kosmetickém průmyslu. Konvenční zdroje mastných kyselin a karotenoidů jsou závislé na sezónních podmínkách, geografické poloze a na dostupnosti zemědělské půdy, což znesnadňuje pokrýt jejich neustále se zvyšující spotřebu. Velmi slibným řešením je mikrobiální produkce výše uvedených látek pomocí karotenogenních kvasinek, které jsou schopny simultánně produkovat karotenoidy, mastné kyseliny i ergosterol. Předložená disertační práce je zaměřená na molekulární a metabolickou charakterizaci karotenogenních kvasinek a na jejich potenciál pro průmyslové aplikace. Proto první experimentální části práce jsou zaměřeny na kvasinky druhu R. mucilaginosa a R. toruloides, jejich produkční vlastnosti, vliv nutričního stresu a různých zdrojů uhlíku, jakými byly xylóza a glycerol. Kromě podrobné charakterizace jejich produkčních vlastností, byly tyto kmeny také charakterizovány molekulárními metodami, zahrnující sekvenční analýzu ITS1, ITS2 a D1/2 ribozomálního operonu a analýzu mini a mikrosatelitních sekvencí M13 a GTG5. Druh R. toruloides je známý jako vynikající producent mastných kyselin, a proto se v poslední době stal cílovou karotenogenní kvasinkou pro vývoj nástrojů pro jeho genetickou manipulaci. V této práci byly úspěšně připraveny geneticky modifikované klony kmene R. toruloides, nesoucí nadměrně exprimované geny pro diacylglycerol acyltransferázu (DGA1) a glycerol-3-fosfát dehydrogenázu (GPD1). Produkce mastných kyselin u modifikovaných klonů nebyla ve srovnání s původním kmenem vyšší. Proto byla další část práce zaměřená na přípravu nadprodukčních mutantních kmenů připravených náhodnou mutagenezí. Kombinace limitace dusíkem a inhibice produkce karotenoidů vedla k úspěšné selekci robustních mutantních kmenů s nadprodukcí karotenoidů vykazující rezistenci vůči difenylaminu. Poslední část práce se zabývá produkčními vlastnostmi méně známých druhů karotenogenních kvasinek náležící do řádů Sporidiobolales a Cystofilobasidales, ve srovnání s relativně dobře prostudovanými karotenogenními druhy R. toruloides a P.rhodozyma. V této studii byly nejlešími producenty mastných kyselin kmeny S.metaroseus CCY 19-6-20 a C. macerans CCY 10-01-02. Nejlepší producent karotenoidů, kmen R. mucilaginosa CCY 19-04-06, navíc produkoval lykopen, který představoval více než 80 % celkového množství karotenoidů produkovaných tímto kmenem.

This thesis deals with human – pilot behaviour modelling during a flight in terms of automatic control systems. For these purposes, the introduction to the issue of description and modelling of individual components of the whole pilot – aircraft interaction is presented. Based on that, the simulation models obtained from real measured data are designed. However, the acquisition of the real flight data is quite difficult. Therefore, the flight simulator at Brno University of Defence is used for the purposes of this work. Several experimental measurements were taken using this simulator. These were focused on measuring pilot’s reactions (responses) to visual stimulus with emphasis on obtaining judgements about their current state of training (in terms of dynamic behaviour) as well as attitude to aircraft control. In this phase, two sets of measurements with eight pilots were taken. On average, the pilots had 60 flight hours before the first set of measurements and about 80 flight hours before the second set. The obtained results are analysed using mainly the theory of automatic control approaches in order to evaluate the actual state of pilots’ abilities considering the effects of flight training.

The doctoral thesis is thematically focused to human operator systems significantly contributing to this system reliability and safety. The theoretical part of the thesis is concerned with human activities and communications in MMS system, valuation and estimation of human reliability probability in MSS. The important part of the thesis is also a description of human operator neuromuscular system as an executive powerful system on MMS system regulating activities and the summary of human driver models in compensative lateral car control. The practical part of the doctoral thesis is based on analyses created by experimental data of drives. Experimental drives were done on drivers set following different backgrounds and different sleep deprivation at whole day. All experimental data was realized from the cooperation and following the agreement of Faculty of Transportation Science research centre on Prague ČVUT. Another part of thesis includes driver simulation model proposals with nonlinear components for lateral car control. Simulation model drives are compared with real drives or drivers on drive-simulator and there are monitored identical and different dynamic movement characteristics. The main target of doctoral thesis is to detect and obtain significant dynamical drive experience characteristics based on experimental data analyses. As well to found drive characters variability owing to driver’s fatigue and determinated evaluated characteristics changes. Acquired results of thesis should help in assistant systems that in cooperation with other components alert to micro-sleep and run off drive possibility.

<p>Emerging mobile mapping systems include a wide range of platforms, for instance, manned aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), terrestrial systems like trucks, tractors, robots, and backpacks, that can carry multiple sensors including LiDAR scanners, cameras, and georeferencing units. Such systems can maneuver in the field to quickly collect high-resolution data, capturing detailed information over an area of interest. With the increased volume and distinct characteristics of the data collected, practical quality control procedures that assess the agreement within/among datasets acquired by various sensors/systems at different times are crucial for accurate, robust interpretation. Moreover, the ability to derive semantic information from acquired data is the key to leveraging the complementary information captured by mobile mapping systems for diverse applications. This dissertation addresses these challenges for different systems (airborne and terrestrial), environments (urban and rural), and applications (agriculture, archaeology, hydraulics/hydrology, and transportation).</p> <p>In this dissertation, quality control procedures that utilize features automatically identified and extracted from acquired data are developed to evaluate the relative accuracy between multiple datasets. The proposed procedures do not rely on manually deployed ground control points or targets and can handle challenging environments such as coastal areas or agricultural fields. Moreover, considering the varying characteristics of acquired data, this dissertation improves several data processing/analysis techniques essential for meeting the needs of various applications. An existing ground filtering algorithm is modified to deal with variation in point density; digital surface model (DSM) smoothing and seamline control techniques are proposed for improving the orthophoto quality in agricultural fields. Finally, this dissertation derives semantic information for diverse applications, including 1) shoreline retreat quantification, 2) automated row/alley detection for plant phenotyping, 3) enhancement of orthophoto quality for tassel/panicle detection, and 4) point cloud semantic segmentation for mapping transportation corridors. The proposed approaches are tested using multiple datasets from UAV and wheel-based mobile mapping systems. Experimental results verify that the proposed approaches can effectively assess the data quality and provide reliable interpretation. This dissertation highlights the potential of modern mobile mapping systems to map challenging environments for a variety of applications.</p>